‘How could this happen in a civilised world?’. The Swiss authorities are potentially putting a Chechen man’s life at risk by insisting he is deported to Russia rather than allowing him to return home to his wife in Ukraine — Novaya Gazeta Europe
novayagazeta.eu
Ethnic Chechen Ali Batayev, who has spent the past year in a Swiss jail awaiting deportation to Russia despite having committed no crime, is understandably frustrated by the indifference to his fate shown by the Swiss authorities, not least when he discovered his appeal against being forcibly repatriated had been rejected on the grounds that “the human rights situation in Chechnya is steadily improving”.

Ethnic Chechen and Russian citizen Ali Batayev has now spent a whole year in a Swiss jail, for two months of which was on hunger strike. Swiss human rights activists have, along with his wife, appealed to every possible institution in the country, explaining how dangerous it would be for Batayev to return.

After decided to end his hunger strike, his wife took the unusual step of sending her husband food to Switzerland from war-torn Ukraine and he ultimately emerged from the two-month-long hunger strike alive. They are both still hopeful he will be able to return to Ukraine instead of being deported to Russia.